Dani can’t wait for senior year at college. A straight-A scholar whose anxiety is a daily struggle, being awkward, introverted, and studious has become a way of life. She vows this year will be different. It’s time to move beyond her comfort zone, but that’s not easy. Dani’s wild roommate and handsome best friend hate each other; her crazy family won’t leave her alo≠ and a new job forces her to … forces her to be social. Unfortunately, when college romance finally calls, Dani is unable to answer thanks to a stalker who has her all tied up.
Can she stay alive long enough to find love and graduate?
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Dani is starting her last year of college. She is determined to become completely independent. She is a A scholar who has anxiety issues that she battles on a daily basis. She is an introvert who struggles to leave her comfort zone. With the help of her best friends Kyle and Tanya she has survived so far.
With her awkward family demanding her time and her friends pushing her to be more social, Dani faces her toughest challenges yet. Her physiatrist wants her to move past her comfort zone and start dating again. After her last relationship of abuse, Dani is finding this to be a hard step. When a stalker starts leaving threatening notes and she starts seeing things, Dani begins to wonder if her ex is after her again.
Can Dani survive her senior year and live to tell about it?
If you are looking for an emotional read, then this book is for you. It really digs deep and touches on a subject that many people struggle with everyday. Mental Illness. Dani has several people in her family that suffer from mental illness and Dani herself struggles with anxiety and social awkwardness. She is always second guessing her decisions and conversations. She has to be perfect at her studies and she is extremely hard on herself. In this book you get to see Dani grow and learn to cope with her disabilities and fall in love. It is a tough road for her, but she is a strong girl.
This book was a steady read. Not really a thriller, but does have some suspense and a bit of danger in it. This book will reach down into your soul. You can’t help but feel for the Dani and love her. There were times when I felt she was blind to some things going on in her life, but she figures it out.
Overall this is a very good read. One that feels real, with real life problems. An emotional roller coaster, with wonderful characters. If you love books that deal with depression and different levels of mental illness, then this book may be up your ally. It is well written and enjoyable.
Twelve Months of Awkward Moments follows college student, Dani, through a difficult senior year. This NA novella is more of a coming-of-age story than any other genre.
Dani comes from a troubled family. Her parents are divorced. Her father suffers from excessive paranoia. Her uncle suffers from an unnamed mental illness. Dani herself is battling with anxiety. At the start of the story, it is hard not to feel Dani’s pain and loneliness mixed in with her fear, negativity and worry about her future.
”I have an evil voice inside my head. It’s always on repeat. It tells me nothing is going to workout. Ever.” –Dani
Author Lisa Acerbo’s early portrayal of Dani is moving and respectful of those with anxiety disorder. Authentically, Ms. Acerbo has Dani shun her prescribed medication and turn to self medication (alcohol) when she returns to school. While Dani’s mental health made her very empathetic, her behavior and attitude toward her family—especially her response to a family tragedy—made her less likable to me.
Dani is described as an awkward introvert, yet she spends a great deal of the book looking for love in all the wrong places, including Tinder and the office. I just couldn’t reconcile those attributes. Once Dani starts her senior year, I felt the depiction of her anxiety diminish in authenticity. I loved her friends’ support of her throughout the story. Both her roommate, Tanya, and declared best friend, Kyle, seem to understand her issues and accept her unconditionally.
The book starts with a frightening scene that sets the expectation for a tense thriller, however, Ms. Acerbo didn’t deliver on the intensity. If the book is intended for older high school to early college aged readers, the toned-down suspense relative to a young woman being stalked may be appropriate. However, for me, the detailed daily existence prose didn’t increase the sense of impending conflict, and it didn’t portray Dani as being crippled by her anxiety; it just showed her poor decisions pertaining to her social life and her disdain for her family and her jobs.
Overall, a lightweight, but respectful treatment of anxiety and a mild thriller that can easily be read in one seating. The writing is technically good, but the storytelling could be punched up with increasing dread and a bigger story zenith. The denouement is a positive end (or beginning) for Dani without much of a resolution regarding the main story conflict.
2.5 stars